Autobots, Assemble! Series 1

Chapter 9: The Siege of Asgard

Note: Also, yes, Knockout did get zorped to Asgard like in the original, but I'm doing things a bit differently with him and Megatron this go around...

I know Sif is the only officially named Valkyrie in EMH, but screw it. I'm a mythology nerd and naming some of them. One of them I know is meant to be Brunhilde anyway, because her EMH costume matches her traditional comic costume. She was the one in blue.

Warning: Loooong

When Stark had said he wanted to suit of armor, Ratchet had scoffed. He had quickly stopped scoffing once Eitri happily agreed to help and once he had seen what the armor would be made of: a stormy grey metal Eitri called "uru". It felt like iron, it even had the same weight and density as iron, but it had remarkable electrical properties that he could have sworn would only be possible with an active circuit or direct power source of some kind. The substance defied all logic and yet there it was, lying around in abundance within the Forge and making it feel as though a massive thunderstorm was about to break out. The smell of ozone was almost as overwhelming as the smell of flame.

"Hey, Ratchet! Get over here! Eitri wants to give you something!" Tony hollered.

He cast a quick look at the two dwarves lying on appropriately scaled down cots. Thankfully, broken bones were the worst of their injuries, though poor Regin had the bones of his right arm nearly completely shattered. They would heal in time, if dwarven physiology was anything like that of a human, but they would not heal soon enough to help out in crafting or fighting. Other dwarves were around to fill in for them, which was fine by Ratchet. His hands were a bit too large to help out with Tony and Eitri's little project.

Ratchet met Eitri at his own anvil. What he was working on was different than the armor: very thin plates of uru metal that were far too long to be used as blades by human or dwarf.

"You aided us today, healer," Eitri declared, "and as king of the realm, I have decided a gift of thanks is appropriate. Present your arm blades, if you would."

"...This seems unwise," he told him frankly. "The electrical properties of the metal could have severe reactions with my physiology. Having seizures every time I discharge the stored energy is not exactly helpful."

Eitri laughed at his hesitation. "Though it may crackle wildly, uru is a clever and obedient metal. And your mortal friend tells me that electricity has medicinal uses?"

"That is true..."

"It's also pretty rude to turn down a king, you know," winked the taller man as he swept by with another plate to plunge into the water trough.

The old medic let his curiosity override his caution. He let Eitri weld the uru strips onto his arm blades.

"Interesting," he hemmed, turning his right arm blade about to get a better look. "It currently behaves as if there is no charge, despite the readings, so I wonder –"

He held out the arm blade and aimed it at a far wall. He didn't expect anything to happen, but then –

BZZ-CRACKA-BANG!

A lightning bolt shot from the tip of the blade and crashed into the wall. Two dwarves leaning against the wall jumped to avoid the tiny rain of debris that came down on them. Both proceeded to stare at him, and Ratchet stared right back at them, wide-eyed as a child-like rush of wonder swept through him. Other than a slight tingle that felt like the "pins and needles" sensation Rafael had described, his systems were not bothered by the discharge.

"Remarkable!" he gasped. "Is it possible to control the voltage of the current?"

Tony laughed.

"You have fun experimenting, doc. Eitri and I need to get this armor done. Unless you want a master-level crash course on armor making?"

Tony drew a hammer from one of the workbenches and began to shape another piece of metal: the faceplate. Eitri began to shape the chassis. Other dwarves were already at work on the gauntlets and limbs. At the rate they were going, the armor would conceivably be done at day's end. But with the Nine Realms under siege, according to Eitri, did they have that kind of time?

The plan was simple – crazy, but simple. Sail the crazy flying ship to Asgard, free Asgard from Loki and his minions, end the siege and get everything back to normal. Faradei suspected they might (emphasis on "might") rendezvous with some allies on the way to bolster their numbers, though that probably wouldn't happen until they were nearly at Asgard's front doors. From the sounds of it, people were busy putting out Loki's fires all over the place, not just on Alfheim.

Clint pretty well knew how that felt.

They'd all briefly stopped at a Light Elf outpost to restock on magical arrows. Faradei had just brought the ship into the air again when frantic shouting met their ears, followed by lots of barking and growling. The elves took up arms and readied to fire.

"Close the gates!" an elf shouted.

"Let me in, let me in, let me in!" the shouter shrieked.

A red streak shot into the outpost just as the gates shut. Hawkeye, Panther, and Arcee bristled on realizing who it was.

"You!" snarled Arcee.

Her tone was enough to prompt twenty elves to aim their arrows dead at Knockout.

"One wrong move, Decepticon," she warned, "and our friends here turn you into a porcupine."

"I don't care what you do to me, just get me out of here!" he retorted, visibly nervous. "Those mutts out there act like I'm a tasty rack of ribs!"

Arcee cast a flat, skeptical look his way. "Aren't you working with the wolves?"

Knockout flung his arms up, "That's what I thought! Apparently those flea-bags didn't get the memo!"

Panther lowered his weapon. "Perhaps they mistake you for an Autobot?"

"Why the scrap would they do that?! I'm not even wearing the right badge!"

"You're a car, genius," Hawkeye flatly told him. "If they were told 'attack Autobots' and all Autobots just so happen to look like ground vehicles, then yeah, they'd get confused"

"Bet you're regretting your choice of disguise now, aren't you?" cackled Smokescreen.

"Oh, I'm the one regretting? You're the one who decided to smash the glowing rock and teleport us into another dimension!"

"Stop," urged T'Challa. "Knockout, if you wish to return to Earth alive, I see only one course of action for you: help us."

"What? Why would we want him back on Earth, Panther? He's a 'Con!" argued Smokescreen.

"I suspect once Loki is done with the other Nine Realms, Earth will feel the final brunt of his fury – and I doubt even the Decepticon army could stand in his way for long."

"And if I know Loki, his 'alliances' can be rather farcical," frowned Faradei. "Allies are only allies so long as it suits him."

Knockout grumbled and muttered a few choice words to himself, but begrudgingly agreed that Panther had a point. Megatron was prepared for a lot of things, but an extra-dimensional invasion of Asgardian warriors wasn't one of them if he had to guess. By the time they'd come up with some countermeasure to fight back, it would probably be too late to matter.

So, the flying ship took off with an additional passenger, much to Arcee's irritated annoyance. However, even she couldn't help a wry smirk at Knockout's flabbergasted reaction at a flying sailing ship. The magical oars of golden energy that swept Skithblathnir along helped give some tenuous logic to the madness of said ship flying through space instead of through water. Even then, Knockout was too busy gawking to bother picking a fight.

Sif knew a head-on assault was foolhardy. But she also knew a head-on assault was the only option; Loki had transformed Asgard from the gleaming crown of the Nine Realms into a veritable fortress. With a squadron of Valkyries, two mortal heroes, and an automaton that was the envy of any dwarven construct, she hoped to to blast through Loki's defenses hard and fast, before he could retaliate with anything worse than ground troops. The heroes' new armor, and the automaton's protective runes, would shield them from the worst of Jotnar magic and from enchanted weapons.

The Ant-Man was perturbed at her plan. The woman held no such reservation. She was bold. Perhaps a little too bold. But bold was what they needed right now. They could not falter in this fight.

"There! Ahead!" Sif said. "Our destination!"

"That's Asgard?" gasped Wasp. "Cool!"

"Be ready," warned Lieutenant Brunhilde. "The air turns frigid. Frost Giants will be awaiting our arrival."

She was right. A line of Jotnar stood on the Bifrost, armed and ready. Traitorous Asgardian guards stood with them. Dispiriting to see how many had taken up with the lie-smith.

Sif drew her sword. "Valkyries – ATTACK!"

They dove right for the giants. Sigrun and Brunhilde went for the most heavily armed giant. Sif attacked another, distracting it long enough for Bumblebee to get in a solid knockout punch to its face. Ant-Man grew in stature to match the giants, and both took on the remaining giants. Wasp happily stung the giants, distracting them and making her allies' melee fight easier. Once Brunhilde and Sigrun's target giant was down, they lashed out at the others before descending upon the traitorous guards alongside Sif and the other warrior women. Swords clashed and sang as the Valkyries cut through their ranks.

But Ant-Man's Jotun opponent fought dirty. After feigning a higher strike, a fist collided with the man's chest, and then its friend smashed a fist into his head. He toppled like a great oak. The giant hefted him up by the front of his suit.

"You may look like a giant, but you do not fight like one," they sneered.

"He doesn't! I do!" snarled Wasp.

The giant's gloating was cut short under a flurry of painful stings. So stunned was the giant that he tripped backwards over some guards before keeling over on top of them. Bumblebee slammed a metal foot into his head to knock him unconscious. The last two standing giants fell upon him in an instant, and the automaton was overwhelmed. He fell back, blasters up, until there was no more Bifrost left to back onto. The giants zeroed in on him.

"We send this one back to Sindri," one threatened, "in pieces."

Ordering her Valkyries to keep pushing forward and secure the gatehouse, Sif ran to help him.

A thundering bellow came from above, and something big and green threw itself into the face of one giant, then leapt and crashed into the other. A mace promptly cracked into the weapon of the second giant, shattering the oversized icy weapon, and its wielder leapt free to avoid being swatted or snatched by now freed hands. Not that Hogun's agility much mattered when an even bigger mace fractured the giant's right arm. The wielder: an automaton even larger than Bumblebee.

"Ha! We could take all of Asgard with these two alone, I dare say!" boomed the familiar voice of Volstag.

"Don't get overconfident, Volstag!" Fandral snipped.

The man danced around a trio of guards. One was gracefully disarmed. A second clashed swords with him before having his weapon kicked out of his grasp. The third one's lunge was halted by Fandral grabbing a second sword and pointing them at the warrior, who wisely skidded a halt to avoid being impaled. Fandral then headbutted him before he could react. Volstag finished him off simply by dropping on him, his great weight crushing the lighter man beneath him.

As a horn sounded, more guards, led by two well-armed giants, came rushing to meet them.

"Hold your ground!" barked Sif.

Shield up, she braced.

They only made it halfway to them. From high above, a shower of golden arrows and blue energy streaks rained down on the enemy. One giant was struck by a slender blue automaton, the other by a larger white one. A man in black leapt from the ship to land on and pin a guard, then swipe vicious claws at another's weapon, slicing it in half. The ship then came in for a rough landing, barreling into the remaining guards and flinging some of them off the Bifrost into the starry abyss below.

Smokescreen leaned over the edge to watch them fall.

"Wait, we're technically in space, but gravity still works like normal?" he asked.

"That...doesn't make any sense," agreed Arcee.

"Let the traitors fall to their miserable ends," Sif told them both bluntly. "Asgard is safer without such easily gulled hearts to guard her."

Both gave her shocked looks.

"Are we sure she's on our side?" Arcee wondered.

A noise forced attention from below them to above them. Brunhilde, having reached the top of the gatehouse, raised her shield and gave a victory cry to those below. Sif looked up and raised her own shield in concord. On her orders, her Valkyries would hold the gatehouse while they continued inside, but for now, a little respite would do before the next battle. Loki would be wisely keeping his remaining forces further in, to avoid sending them into the deadly bottleneck the Valkyries now formed at the gates.

Bumblebee raced over to Bulkhead to give him a friendly greeting.

"Nice tats, 'Bee," the green giant chuckled.

Bumblebee whistled back at him, eagerly explaining where he'd gotten them. Sif had honestly found it quite sweet how enamored he'd been with Lady Freya. But Bulkhead had some additional runes on him as well; according to him, it was either the runes to help him travel the space between realms, or be transformed into a mechanical flying goat for an hour through the help of a local Vanaheim wood-witch. He had opted for the first option.

"Hey, you're all alive!" cheered Wasp. "That's grea-wait. What is he doing here?" she scowled, pointing.

Knockout was shepherded off the ship by Faradei and two of his elves. After hearing Sif's words, he seemed none too keen to get anywhere near her.

"He is here to assist us," Faradei stated simply.

"Under threat..." muttered Knockout.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you have preferred we left you on Alfheim to become wolf kibble?" Arcee deadpanned. "I'm sure Faradei would be happy to take you back and dump you, Decepticon. You'd make a very lovely, very shiny target for the wolves to chase while they set up defenses."

Knockout frowned deeply at her as a growl worked up in his throat. "Don't do me any favors, Autobot."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"If you two are done posturing at each other, can we please focus on the bigger problem?" Ant-Man interrupted, planting himself between the two. "We're about to invade a heavily fortified extra-dimensional city. We need everyone coordinated or this won't work."

"...Would work better if everyone was here," the Hulk growled as he looked around. "Some heads are missing."

Arcee did a visual headcount for her team. Ant-Man and Hawkeye did a recount for theirs.

"...He's right," Arcee realized as a flash of dread went through her. "Has anyone seen Optimus?"

No one had.

"And where's Cap?" wondered Wasp. "Cap?!"

Her voice echoed off the high walls of Asgard. No answer came.

Panther played the voice of reason. If everyone had been transported to a different realm after shattering a Norn Stone, it was only rational to assume Optimus and Captain America had been transported as well. That they were not present indicated they had not found a means to escape their realm yet. And in that case, their only choice was to continue without them.

"No," Sif argued. "Loki has stolen the Odinforce from Yggdrasil. He is much too powerful for any mortal to fight. Remain here with my Valkyries."

Hawkeye got in her way. "Uh, no. No, no. That's not how this works, lady. We're gonna help punch Loki whether you want us to or not."

"Loki made an attempt to invade Earth as well," agreed Ant-Man. "This is our problem too, Sif. You don't have to fight him alone."

Sif was ready to retort and call him and his allies foolish. Instead, she smiled. "Your bravado is commendable. Make ready, then."

Optimus did not think he was an easily disturbed mech. He had seen many gruesome and unsettling things over the millennia he had been at war. But the place he found himself wandering around in disturbed him indeed. The landscape was cold, dead, and uninviting, barely able to sustain the few trees and patches of grass that grew, and the fog whispered strange things to him in languages he knew and did not know. Tombstones littered the area, all disturbingly bearing the name of one he knew who had died. There were so many grave-markers that the headstones burst from the ground, tightly-knit, almost as if shoving each other out of the way to reach an invisible sun.

The Matrix did not like the location either; the ancient device was unusually silent. It felt as though the device were hunched up in his chest, warily observing its surroundings in the same way he was.

Having someone at his side did ease him somewhat, though his companion was equally, perhaps more unnerved than he was.

Captain America spun suddenly, shield up. "Who's there?" he barked.

The fog shifted and billowed. The Prime saw and heard nothing that might have prompted him, a fact that only fed his own unease.

Something about this place did not feel right to him. Somehow, he felt as though they were being scrutinized, but there was no one around to do so.

Up in a dying yew tree, a crow squawked at him. A crow, he knew for certain, that had not been there a moment prior. In fact, his scanners attested that the crow did not exist. There was no life sign, no heart beat, no electromagnetic field that signaled life. After squawking once more, the crow took wing and disappeared into the billowing fog.

"...Is this what Megatron meant by circumstance?" he muttered. "I'm not sure I follow."

Optimus frowned. "I am lost as to his wording as well. It is unlike him to be so obtuse. He typically despises such indirect speech."

"You say that as though you know him."

"I do. He was a friend once. A very close friend at that."

The soldier, baffled, looked up at him. "You were friends with a warlord?"

He smiled thinly. "He was not a warlord at the beginning, captain. He was a miner."

The man's baffled look became even more pronounced. In a shake of his head, he asked: "What happened?"

He frowned as he kept walking. He had asked that selfsame question ever since the start of this conflict. No conclusion he had reached ever felt satisfactory. There were some days that it drove him to despair and frustration. There had to be something, something, something in the sequence of events that led to that day that explained his sudden turn for the worse, a piece of evidence he was perhaps overlooking or had yet to be presented to him. That evidence had never been found and had never come, and he worried such evidence did not exist. There was not always an explanation, loathe though he was to admit that.

"...I can't say I've had that happen," the soldier murmured, "fighting someone I know. Tony might understand. He knew Simon before he turned. He was heartbroken when he disappeared. He'd been hoping to work with him."

"To do what?"

"What inventors do, I suppose. Invent things to make the world better. Not that it really makes a difference for me."

Optimus silently questioned him.

"You're machines," he explained slowly. "You don't really have set life spans like we do. It's hard to celebrate progress when the progress of time, the thing celebrated as proof of advancement, has killed nearly everyone you knew seventy years ago."

The Prime offered the man a sympathetic look. He had not paused to consider that. The world he knew was functionally gone.

"Is anyone you know still alive?"

"Not that I know. Bucky would be, if he hadn't..."

He was interrupted by a muffled explosion. Another explosion triggered nearer still to their location, igniting a dying oak from behind. In its branches, a murder of crows squawked loudly. Their shimmering green eyes seemed oddly intent on the soldier below them. Cap, nervous, hefted his shield when one of the crows swooped out of the branches into the fog. Moments later, the soldier gasped at an impossibility: a shadow swept beneath his feet, unattached to a body. And when he spun to see where it had gone, the shadow revealed itself as a human wearing army fatigues.

Cap's jaw dropped. "Manelli?" he gasped.

Much to his shock, Manelli dissipated on the wind.

The Matrix gave a low, nervous chime in his chest.

"I don't like this," hissed Cap.

They left the crow-tree behind. But the crows followed, observing them as they walked. Curiously, when he glanced back towards them, he saw the fog shift under the presence of something else. Whatever it was emitted light enough to illuminate the fog. The crows noticed too and were in uproar over it.

He squinted.

"What?" asked Cap.

He gestured silently for him to keep just ahead of him. Whatever was after them, he planned to make himself the more tempting target by pretending to let his guard down. It was rather easy to be distracted; the more he walked, the more tombstones erupted from the ground. So many names...dead well before their time. And was he not to blame for that, at least in part? He knelt in front of one. The writing on it, fresh, read: Cliffjumper. If he had not put the red warrior on patrol that day, there was every chance he would still be alive. But how was he to have known he would be ambushed so swiftly, so brutally? That was the danger, he supposed, in allowing oneself to become complacent during lulls in activity. War never truly stopped; it merely allowed one a deceptively sweet respite before plunging one back into the bloodshed, with little to no warning to presage the shift.

Without warning, a furious shout met his audials. He whirled, swords at ready, just as a streak of red light careened into an imposing figure and knocked the attacker back a considerable distance. When the red light dropped down, it flickered and became a figure he knew painfully well. One of the stubby horns on his head was snapped off near the base.

"Hey, HEY!" barked Cliffjumper at the other figure. "You know the rules, flyboy! No picking fights in the lobby!"

It took the Prime one more baffled look to realize who the other figure was: Skyquake. That...that could not be. Were they not both deceased?

"Death does not halt the Decepticon cause, Autobot!" retorted Skyquake. "I will not bow to the insignificant rulings of – what?!"

Skyquake was cut short at the sound of chains erupting from the ground. Those chains then saw fit to coil around him. Skyquake struggled vigorously against his new bonds.

"No, no!" he howled. "Curse you, woman! Unhand me!"

Skyquake managed to free his sword arm enough to enable a decent swing arc. As Skyquake lurched towards him, his arm went up for another downward cleave.

"I will not be controlled by you, you overbearing, petty-minded excuse for...!"

BAMF. Moments before his sword could strike, Skyquake disappeared in a puff of mist. The crows went into another uproar. To Optimus, it rather sounded like they were laughing.

"Oh, yeah, he's definitely in trouble for that," Cliffjumper agreed, addressing the crows. "I guess you don't learn basic manners working for old bucket-head."

"You're...talking...to the crows," the soldier realized slowly.

"Why wouldn't he?" one of the crows asked in a bizarrely human-sounding voice. "We're darn good company."

Cap's eyebrow rose so high it threatened to escape his forehead. "Why does that crow sound like Dugan...?"

The crow answered by transforming into a burly man in army fatigues. "'Cause I am!"

The remaining crows underwent a similar transformation. All became humans in army fatigues, each bearing a badge depicting a snarling anthropomorphic dog toting a machine gun. Cap knew that badge; he had worn it himself for a while: the Howling Commandos logo. Only one of the group was dressed differently: a dark-skinned man who appeared to be in charge was adorned in a much more dramatic black outfit and cloak, his face mostly shielded by a hood. Captain Rogers was so dumbstruck by the sight that he staggered back, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"But...but you're..."

"Dead?" finished the hooded man. "Sad truth. Time gets you if war doesn't."

"Jack?" gasped the super soldier. "Jack Fury?"

The hood came down to reveal a smiling dark-skinned man whose chin was covered in a fine layer of stubble. "Good to see you again, Cap."

"What on Earth are you wearing?"

Jack Fury chuckled at the question. "New uniform for a new division I got assigned to here, that's all. I can't pronounce the name to save my rear though. I never was great at pronouncing Icelandic words."

Cap smiled at the memory that triggered. While idling around before the Norway mission, Jack had tried to pronounce some Norse words to see if he might find hidden messages in the castle, but had stopped fairly quickly because the other Commandos had joked that it sounded like he was trying to summon an eldritch god. He had laughingly declared that they had enough problems on their plate; they didn't need some otherworldly abomination trying to kill them, too.

"What are you doing here though?" Fury asked him.

"Yeah, you're still alive," agreed Cliffjumper. "How the heck did you two get in? I thought the boss lady had rules about warm bodies getting backstage passes. In that, y'know, they don't get them."

"What?"

Cliffjumper titled his head to the side. "You literally have no idea where you are, do you?"

All he remembered, and indeed all that Optimus remembered, was a horrible crackling noise and a searing, blinding flash just after the Norn Stone had been attacked.

"Oh. Yeeeah, so not to freak you out, that must've been the Nifhelheim Stone. 'Cause, uh, that's where you are. Per orders, we kinda need to get you two to the lady in charge to get this sorted out. Something must have gone extra screwy for you two to land here."

The hooded man melted into a shadow and swept ahead through the fog. Though still in a daze, the two followed him with Cliffjumper taking up the rear near Optimus. Upon trying to spur the red warrior into answering why he was there, Cliffjumper merely whispered back that it was complicated. The lady in charge would be able to explain it better. He was not a prisoner, if that was what worried him. None of them were.

Out in the distance, the fog parted to reveal an enormous black-stone castle, above which swirled a perpetual snowstorm. The Prime was glad to be shepherded through the massive doors into a (slightly) warmer entry hall lit by unusual green flames.

"Don't let the spooky decor theme fool you," whispered Cliffjumper. "She's pretty nice, actually," he added, "even if she does dress a bit funny."

"A bit funny" did not do justice to the woman on the throne ahead of them. Tall, imposing, draped in black and green armor that clung tightly to her frame. Down her back cascaded a cape of raven feathers. Her face was by far the most unusual thing to look at: one half of her face was concealed by a mask that, judging by color and texture, was made of ivory, and the eye behind that mask shone an unnatural green hue. A hound the size of a black bear lay at her side.

"Good, you found them. Excellent work, my eiðskaði," Her voice was rather somber and quiet.

Jack Fury whispered to Cap that "that was the division he'd been assigned to." Odin had the Valkyries. The goddess had her eiðskaði. They picked up anyone the Valkyries couldn't.

"Optimus, Cap, this is Hela," Cliffjumper introduced. "She's the one in charge here."

The Prime bowed politely, which prompted a little smile.

"So this one has manners," she purred. "A welcome change."

He eyed her. "Are you suggesting Cliffjumper has none himself?"

At that, the goddess chuckled. "Not at all. He may be informal, but he is never rude. I cannot say the same for my other unexpected guest."

Her fingers snapped. In a flash, the grey vehicle form of Megatron appeared, bound in shimmering green chains.

"Release me at once, witch!" he thundered.

The woman frowned at him. "Have you paused to consider that I would if I could trust you to behave yourself?"

"We had a deal!" he snarled.

"Your deal involved me holding, to use your own words, 'any bodies who appeared in my realm' unexpectedly," she informed him coldly. "It is your own fault for not exempting yourself in the terms."

Cap nearly grinned. Death goddess or not, he was starting to like this lady already.

Howling, Megatron strained against his bonds to no avail. Hela eyed him flatly, her lips curled into a shallow frown, not unlike how a disappointed mother eyed a child who intentionally disobeyed her. But there was too a darkness in that expression that warned she could do much worse to him if she deigned to do so. The green crystals floating near the vaulted ceiling were proof enough: each held someone inside, frozen.

"Three live bodies appearing in my realm," Hela mused, stroking the hound's head, "smelling of death but not dead themselves. How very peculiar."

"Yeah. Spangles here smashed a Norn Stone," explained Cliffjumper, "apparently the one that was hooked up to your place."

Cringing, the super soldier meekly retorted: "In my defense, I did so under Thor's orders."

"...Carnilla, the Stones' creator, appeared here not long before you did," the woman noted grimly. "A mortal approached her, and with one touch transformed her body to stone. Coincidentally, that same mortal appeared here mere moments after her."

"Who?" wondered the soldier.

"One Paul Pierre Duval. You may know him better as the Grey Gargoyle."

"Gargoyle?" repeated Optimus. "Was he not one of the Masters of Evil?"

"That's what I thought..." muttered Cap. "But if Carnilla was already dead when he showed up, then who got Gargoyle..?"

"I fear fatal subterfuge is at work," admitted Hela dryly, "and wherever fatal subterfuge is, my father Loki is involved. Too many have arrived at my doors due to his penchant. Carnilla and Paul are merely the latest. I expect many more over the next few days, if he is not stopped. I would see to that myself, were I not perpetually occupied protecting my realm from him. There are items here, powers, that would spell doom were he to acquire them."

"Like what?"

One of her hands went up. In answer, one of the crystals came down from the ceiling. Inside it was not a person, but an item: a long-barreled cannon intricately forged of black and silver metal. The little flourishes of design awoke an ominous chord within Optimus, and triggered an unpleasant low hum from the Matrix.

Death of a world

Death of a star

Death of a loved one

Requiem

"Where did you find that?" he demanded.

"You know what it is, then?"

He dared not say the name aloud. Megatron was eyeing it far too closely.

"Then you understand why I cannot allow it to leave Nifhelheim. If Loki or any of his ilk were to obtain it...the Nine Realms would be barren within days."

Hela levitated the weapon back up. Optimus stared first at it, then at her. How she knew enough about the legendary weapon to know how dangerous it was he hadn't the faintest idea. For it was dangerous, more so than any weapon his kind had ever created; it had not earned it's other names of "Star-Killer" or "Mountain Breaker" without merit. Even in a situation where its brute power might be warranted, it had remained locked away. That degree of restraint said the weapon was better off in her hands, in her realm, well out of reach of the living who might impulsively use it.

"You do plan to stop him, don't you?" the soldier pressed.

"Indeed, though as I cannot leave Nifhelheim, it must be through indirect means. You may be the key to it, Steven. Loki allied with your enemies, therefore Loki is your enemy as well. Further, since I cannot hold live bodies here, perhaps we can reach an agreement to satisfy both parties?"

"What do you mean you cannot hold them?" snapped the imprisoned warlord. "Zemo said –"

"Must I address you as if you were a knee-high whelp? I have rulings that I must adhere to that cannot be disobeyed on a whim. Those rules were set by Odin, and only Odin himself may dissolve them. Do not interrupt me again," she added coldly.

Megatron, frowning, went quiet. Hela thus proceeded to lay out her terms.

"Each of you, at some point, managed to evade death. Therefore, I am justified in forging contracts for your release. I will transport you to Asgard to face Loki once you agreed to my terms. Should you fall in that battle, captain, you belong to me. That is my contract to you. I trust that is simple enough?"

"...Why do I smell fine print...?" muttered the soldier, eyes narrow.

The woman's un-masked eye flashed. "I do not believe in such trickery, Steven. Should the terms of the deal be broken by outside intervention, or by survival, then the terms of my deal are forfeit."

Her explanation was enough to appease him. He agreed.

"My contract with you, Prime, is thus: If and when you succeed in defeating my father, I will transport you back to Nifhelheim. I believe you might aid me with a certain difficult task that has troubled me for some time. When that task is completed, you will be returned to Midgard. Do you agree to these terms?"

Optimus considered for a moment. He asked her frankly how long this task would take. Hela responded that she could not provide an exact estimate, but that if he worried his little team would falter if he were gone too long to not fret. She hoped the solution he had inadvertently brought to her would mean a quick resolution. And thus, deeply curious about her phrasing, he agreed.

Cliffjumper leaned over the throne. "So, not to make decisions for you, big H, but ah – I really wouldn't advise letting him out..." he said, eyeing the chained warlord.

Hela looked more than ready to adhere to his suggestion. But her face suddenly became deeply troubled when a horn made the fog vibrate. The hall's grand doors burst open under the force of frigid, howling, gale force winds that extinguished the green-flame sconces. In a wave of her hand, Hela quickly shut the doors again and re-lit the flames to quell their shivering.

"What was that?" one of the Commandos asked.

"I fear I must amend my contracts. I will not be able to transport you to Loki directly. There is another force that must be dealt with first."

Captain Rogers' suspicion ebbed back as the woman opened a tear in the air that spiraled into a circle: a viewing portal. What appeared in it was not Loki, but a monstrous lupine form covered in icy fur, a wolf beast so large that Bulkhead only reached the mid-joint of a leg. The other Avengers and Autobots were were not faring well against it. Ant-Man was trapped beneath one of its paws, and as they watched it lunged and grabbed a half-frozen Bumblebee like an oversized chew toy. The poor scout wound up thrown against a building.

"Hoarfin, the Ice Wolf," clarified Hela. "One of the elemental spawn of the mighty Fenrir."

"You want 'em to fight that?" gasped Jack Fury in turn.

"They must if you plan to defeat Loki."

Cap eyed her, deeply suspicious. "What happened to a fair deal?"

"My deal applies only during the battle with Loki," the woman reminded him. "I am within my rights to assist you with Hoarfin. With Thor captured, and the Valkyries occupied protecting their flank, you lack air superiority; you will not defeat the Ice Wolf without it."

She then turned to Megatron, "To you, machine, I provide my contract. Though I will free you, against my better judgement, know this: should you betray those who seek to preserve Asgard and all the Nine Realms this day, I will hold no qualms in throwing you into the deepest reaches of the Black Frost Abyss until the last star in the sky sputters and dies. Yours will be a cold, miserable end, one to match your icy heart."

Megatron glowered at her but did not challenge her.

"It is agreed then."

In a snap, his chains evaporated. Cap was first to rush into the portal Hela provided.

So, fun fact: the eiðskaði are entirely my own creation. But I based it on mythological precedent. Odin's got the Valkyries. It only makes sense Hela has her own "soul collecting" squad that doesn't get near as much press. Eiðskaði loosely translates (as far as I know, anyone who knows Norse please correct me) to "Sworn Shadows". And yeah, this'll be a three parter because this chapter would be 10k words if I kept going and that's a bit much for a single chapter XD